


Three for a Wedding

by anomalation



Series: Magpies [3]
Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, still filling in paris, that's basically it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 18:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15935885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anomalation/pseuds/anomalation
Summary: The Kala/Wolfgang/Rajan negotiation conversation they needed to have had during the finale.





	Three for a Wedding

The situation just required adequate explanation. Kala was sure of that. After all, she was able to get anyone to excel in organic chemistry with enough time invested in the explanation, and surely that was more difficult than explaining to two men she was in love with them both.

And yet, when she began to broach the topic mentally, it felt like an insurmountable obstacle to any possibility of happiness. It was not a typical situation that she found herself in. That was a fact.

The very setting complicated her feelings. It was Rajan who got them this lovely new place to stay, with his connections. But it was Wolfgang next to her every second, since neither of them could bear to be apart.

She had to give Rajan credit for how understanding he was being. He wasn’t possessive with her. Even with Wolfgang near her now, Rajan didn’t seem to notice. Wolfgang was sitting on a couch with her, a few feet apart, but he also had his head in her lap, her hand resting over his heart. She didn't want to be anywhere else than exactly here, she never wanted to let him go. But it wasn't fair to Rajan, to be acting behind his back in this manner. Even though he was sitting directly next to her, on the opposite side of Wolfgang.

"Rajan," she began, but just like every other time she started, she didn't know how to continue past that.

"Yes, my flower?" he replied.

Wolfgang, the one lying in her lap that wasn't really there, smiled. Kala smiled too, but she couldn't truly mean it. This wasn't a consensual situation, and so it wasn't fair. Though, on the other hand, if she truly believed in the morals she claimed to, she should push Wolfgang off her lap this instant. And of course, Wolfgang heard that thought and the smile kind of fell off his face. He stopped lying in her lap, and stayed where he was on the couch, just out of reach.

"Rajan," she said again, and kept speaking while she had the momentum. "I think we need to talk about the implications of the... situation, that we find ourselves in."

"Whatever do you mean?" Rajan said pleasantly.

Kala felt her cheeks flush, and she stood up to pace. Wolfgang stayed on the couch; he didn't join her mentally either, which she was grateful for. "I mean I feel that you may not fully understand what's going on. The implications."

"Kala, I understand that we won't have any privacy, and haven't," Rajan said. "I know that there's nothing you could do."

"It's not that," she said, and Wolfgang looked away, out a window. He wasn't enjoying this either. In fact, no one was. Of course no one was. This was a terrible conversation. Kala could feel Will at the edge of her consciousness, encouraging her to speak her mind, which she appreciated. "I would never want to hurt you," she said. "But I have a... connection. With certain people. That is... more than platonic in nature."

Rajan stood too, and stopped her from pacing by taking her hands. "The nature of your bond is beyond my understanding," he said. "That's perfectly alright with me. I am not a jealous man."

Somehow, she doubted even he would be alright with the facts of the situation if he fully understood them. And she continued to feel guilty about it, but she couldn't continue to argue anymore. She smiled weakly at him, and nodded.

Wolfgang, though once he'd been indifferent to Rajan and tried to pretend they were doing nothing wrong, now seemed to have changed his tune. He stopped visiting her in their minds so much - a possible side-effect of their physical proximity, however, which was more likely and less dramatic. They were close to each other in reality most of the time. Wolfgang held her hand, or slung an arm over her shoulder or just sat close enough to touch, at all times.

Surprisingly, it was Wolfgang who made the next overture with Rajan. It was their second night there, not much time passed. The night before, Wolfgang slept apart from Kala and neither of them had been happy about it. But it wouldn’t have been right to leave Rajan alone, when it was he who found the house for them and had generally been so understanding. And dinner had been so nice, last night. Maybe that’s why Wolfgang was particularly apologetic.

“You’re a good man, Rajan,” he began.

Kala felt slightly hysterical, as if she might burst into laughter at any moment. The collision of Wolfgang’s hard morals and Rajan’s soft politeness was absurd.

“Thank you,” Rajan said in surprise.

“And Kala is a special girl,” Wolfgang continued. “I only want her to be happy.”

“As do I,” Rajan said, and that was the end of it again.

Kala despaired of ever having a reasonable conversation about this. She did a lot of despairing about it, actually. With sorbet late at night, and in large quantities.

Hernando found her one of those nights. Kala was leaning against the fridge, feeling worse by the spoonful, and Hernando hesitated at the door. “Sorry,” he said. “Am I interrupting?”

She let out a despairing sort of laugh and shook her head. “Not at all. Do you need the fridge? I can move.”

Hernando shook his head. “I’m here for these.” And he pulled a bag of vegetable crisps out of the cupboard. He ate a few, glancing at Kala intermittently, and she felt the question incoming before it came. “Is there anything I can help with?”

She took another bite, savoring the coolness. “Selfishly, I wish I could say yes,” she said. “In reality, I fear the answer is a good deal more complicated than that.”

Hernando leaned against the cabinets. “I have some time,” he told her, no pressure attached. Kala found it easy to understand why Lito was so totally in love with him.

“I just,” she began. But after that false start, it felt like the words would never stop pouring out of her. “I love my husband, I do. That isn’t any false sense of guilt talking, nor any imagined duty to him. I love him, he is constantly surprising me and always better than I make him out to be. I’ve been very unfair to him in my mind. But - and I’m only saying this because I’m certain they are both asleep - I cannot say that I love my husband more than I love Wolfgang, and I fear that’s something that I will never be able to reconcile.”

Hernando nodded slowly. He took his time with his snacks, and Kala appreciated it because it gave her more time for her sherbet. “How do the two of them feel about it?” he asked.

Kala shook her head. “I don’t know. Wolfgang is trying to play nicely, and I tried to bring it up before, but Rajan isn’t picking up on any of the signals.”

“Are you certain he isn’t?” Hernando asked.

“What do you mean?” Kala frowned.

“Well, perhaps he has picked up on them, but he’s misinterpreted. Or he believes that if he forces you to make a choice, you won’t choose him,” Hernando suggested. He shifted his weight to be more comfortable.

Kala took several slow bites while she processed this possibility. “That is entirely possible,” she said. “Oh God.”

“I don’t know if I can offer any advice other than to talk about it. Clearly, with no attempt at preserving anyone’s feelings,” Hernando added.

He probably knew what he was talking about, Kala reflected, given the nature of his relationship with Lito and Dani. And then it occurred to her that he was, perhaps, the perfect person to know exactly what she needed to do. He knew, he could help, and as realization dawned on her, Hernando must’ve seen it because he laughed.

“Why haven’t you told me precisely what to do?” Kala demanded. “You’ve been in this exact situation!”

Hernando at least had the good grace to look sheepish. “I have been in a similar situation, at least,” he said. “I didn’t want to assume.”

“Don’t play games with me, Hernando, I’m in a real crisis,” Kala said with a frown. “Please.”

He took pity on her. “We discussed it,” he said. “All three of us. We were forced into it, but it did, eventually happen. And the confidence of that no one would be left behind or forgotten about is essential.”

“That may be difficult,” Kala sighed. “Rajan could find that hard to believe, given the connection Wolfgang and I share that’s… hard to replicate.”

"It's not quite the same," Hernando said. "None of us are connected the way you and Wolfgang are."

Kala felt light-headed. "Right," she said. "It's hopeless."

"It's not hopeless," Hernando said. "It will require frequent communication. Does that sound like something you could do?"

Kala herself? Without question. Rajan? She doubted it, though she'd been surprised by him in the past and couldn't rule it out. But Wolfgang? She didn't want to think about how he'd react to the suggestion. "Goodness gracious," she said.

"You don't need to solve it tonight," Hernando said.

"No," she said. "But time is of the essence I think."

So, the next day, she took a blocker - after rehearsing with Lito and accepting one last encouraging hug from Will and Riley - and towed her two men out onto a balcony, determined to set things straight.

Wolfgang frowned at her; he touched her hand, and probably tried to visit her and couldn't. "What's going on?" he asked. 

"We're going to have a conversation," she said.

"About what?"

She crossed her arms. "Rajan," she said. "Wolfgang and I are in love."

Her husband's face was hard to read. His smile faded a little, and he looked at the two of them. "Oh," he said.

"But I am still very much in love with you, too," Kala added, before anything else happened. "And I could no sooner cut myself off from Wolfgang than I could cut off my own arm. But I married you, and I stayed married to you because you make me happy every day, and I'd never want to hurt you."

"I see," Rajan said after a second. He looked at Wolfgang. "There isn't much I can say. You could speak to her privately at any moment."

Wolfgang shook his head. "She took a blocker." Kala thought she saw grudging respect on his face, for that. And then she saw resolve, and her heart jumped in fear for a second; she hoped he wouldn't do anything rash. "And I wouldn't, anyway," he said. "I feel what she feels for you."

"You love me?" Rajan said, very sarcastic.

"Yes," Wolfgang said, sounding very unconcerned. "I meant it, when I said you're a good guy. Those are hard to come by. I don't see why we can't all..." He shrugged. And Kala felt faint again, a little, at the prospect of the solution being so easy. 

"Oh," Rajan said. He sounded as Kala felt; bewildered. "Well. I think... I need some time to think."

"Of course," Kala said. "Yes. We should all take some time to think."

Wolfgang looked at her, brow furrowed. "I don't need time to think," he said. "I know what I want." And he walked back inside, leaving the two of them alone.

"He's... decisive," Rajan said after a period of silence.

"Certainly. Considering that he's only realized he can care for more than one person in his entire life, two nights ago," Kala said dryly.

Rajan thought that was funny, but he was clearly more invested in the problem at hand. "You don't need to protect my feelings, Kala," he said. "If you wish to leave me, I wouldn't stop you."

"I know," Kala answered. "But that's not what I want."

Rajan didn't leave them in suspense for long. As everyone was packing up for Naples, he pulled Kala aside. "Is Wolfgang here?" he asked.

"He is now," she said, feeling Wolfgang mentally join them. He sort of appeared in the edges of her mind like he just walked up, and both of them looked at Rajan.

Rajan appeared to have rehearsed it. "Kala, my beautiful wife. I have loved you since the moment I set eyes upon you, and I continue to love everything you reveal about yourself. How could I not love all the other voices in your head?"

"You aren't obligated-" she began.

"I know," he said. "But I accept my limitations. There are things they know about you that I never will. Though, by the same logic, I think there are things we've shared that they have not. And each relationship is special."

It was clear he was speaking about Wolfgang, but politely covering it in language about her whole cluster. Kala was grateful for the safety of civility. "I agree," she said.

"Then, as long as all three parties are of the same mind, I think we should give it a shot. I like to think I'd try anything once; now I'll put that to the test," he added, sounding remarkably chipper.

Wolfgang actually did walk in the room then, and he pulled both of them into an enthusiastic, if a little stiff, hug. "Great," he said after they separated. "Let's do this."

Kala didn't know where he got all that confidence, but she had to admit he was more likely to be right in then end than she was. Because after all, she'd never seen any single one of the three of them fail at something they put their mind to.


End file.
